Super Mario Bros Loops
by jakeroo123
Summary: A Mario variation on 'The Infinite Loops', since no one's written one yet. Ideas are welcome, whether or not I end up using them.
1. Chapter 1

_Well, here it is... A bit of a project of mine. Sort of. It's based on a concept I heard about from TVTropes, their 'FanFic / TheInfiniteLoops' article should mostly be able to explain, if you haven't heard of it. No one's done a Mario one, so after reading the Banjo-Kazooie and Pokemon ones, I decided to start. As far as this goes, the anchors are the Mario Bros. My explanation for both of them being the anchor is that they're linked, both mentally and physically (by their shared inventory). Other loopers are Peach and Bowser, at least so far. Anyway, here are thirteen shorts to start off with. Hope you like them, and any ideas are appreciated (even if I don't end up using them or dislike them)._

_I've also decided to avoid giving Mario any dialogue, well, at least, not put any words to it. I've always given him dialogue before, so I thought that might be fun._

* * *

1-1

Mario… Wasn't exactly sure what was going on. He'd expected to find Bowser waiting for him at the castle, as per usual, and, well, he had been.

In a cage. Looking kind of pathetic, actually, as Peach tried to force him into marrying her, using ice magic he didn't know she had.

And, when she noticed him and Luigi, she attacked. The last thing the brothers saw before blacking out was a thirty-ton block of ice crashing onto their heads.

* * *

1-2

Mario and Luigi had finally figured out that they were looping through time, and, apparently, not everything was the same from one loop to the next. The last one had been the first one with any major differences, but they soon realized that Bowser had been repeating his schemes for several months.

Not that it helped with their current situation, where apparently they were perfectly normal plumbers who just happened to be the objects of fancy for the princesses.

Who could, apparently, transform into superpowered, glowing forms that no one recognized. With animal motifs, even. A cat for Peach, a rabbit for Daisy. What was that about? They were currently using these powers to rescue the bros from Bowser, who was gigantic, monstrous, and, honestly, a bit scary looking this time around. Mario had no doubt he and Luigi could still beat him, but, well, he had them captured in a metal cage.

… Remembering why he always captured Peach, Mario dearly hoped that Peach and Daisy would finish this up quickly. Or, even, that they wouldn't be staying here too long.

* * *

1-3

Eventually, Luigi dubbed the events happening to them "time loops". Mario didn't think the name quite fit, as they'd never repeated any of their adventures more than once or twice, but Luigi's reasoning was sound enough.

"It's the only word I can think of that makes any sense. Plus, it starts with L. That's ALWAYS a good reason."

* * *

1-4A

Then, of course, there were loops that just didn't make a bit of sense, no matter how you looked at them. He wasn't sure how Waluigi managed to lock him in a dungeon and take over the kingdom, but apparently, judging by the toothpick's crazed bragging, he'd beaten Luigi in a boxing match and the latter had been so ashamed he'd disappeared into the Boo Woods, never to be seen again.

It took all of five minutes for Mario to grow bored of this, bust out of the dungeon, and knock out Waluigi with one punch. Another two hours, and the Mushroom Kingdom was completely free of his rule.

And, just like that, this loop was over. He wondered where Luigi had really gotten to.

* * *

1-4B

Of all things for Elvin Gadd to have been like in a loop, this was the last thing Luigi suspected.

Still, for the two hours it lasted, racing hoverboards through trees was great fun. Even if Gadd kept using outdated slang.

* * *

1-5

"It's not gonna change no matter how much you stare, bro," Luigi pointed out.

"Uh-huh" Mario said, poking at his face. The orange lizard in the mirror wearing his cap did the same.

"Could be worse, though," Luigi said. "At least your hat doesn't clash terribly with your colors."

"…" Mario turned to stare at the yellow mouse that was his brother.

"What? It's a legitimate concern," Luigi defended himself. "Hey, your tail's on fire. Cool."

Suddenly, a crab with mushrooms growing out of its back ran in.

"Chario! Chuigi! The princess has been kidnapped again!" It screamed, and ran back out.

"Hey, that was Toad, right?" Luigi asked. "Well, at least we've got fingers. Oh, look, my cheeks are making sparks…"

_Note to self_, Mario thought, as he ran out the door, _don't let Luigi electrocute himself just to "see what will happen"._

* * *

1-6

So, apparently, this was all some problem with some supercomputer that ran the universe. That was, at least, the explanation that the blue hedgehog was giving them. It caused somewhat random events to happen sometimes, and even made different universes cross into each other.

Like now, where his friends and enemies were competing against the hedgehog's in Olympic events.

Mario didn't really care that much. What was interesting, though, was that apparently there was a place where both he and the hedgehog were the main characters of video game franchises.

"So… Any questions?" Sonic asked.

Mario asked which of their series sold better.

"Uhh… Well, yours… By a lot… Why?"

Mario grinned. His team was so going to win this thing.

* * *

1-7

The Mario Brothers officially had no clue what was going on in this loop. They'd gone on a road trip with Toadsworth, who was apparently their grandfather this time around, and they also apparently didn't get along.

Deciding that the best thing to do was to play along for the time being (twin telepathy was so useful sometimes), they got into a fake argument and Mario stormed off into the woods. Once he was out of sight, he started looking around for something interesting to do.

… Well, getting hit by a meteor counted, right? Okay, it missed by a few feet, but then some weird watch thing jumped out of the rock and attached itself to his arm. And then, well, turned him into a Yoshi.

Yeah, this was going to be a _weird_ loop.

* * *

1-8

When Mario and Luigi came into a repeat of their first adventure, they decided to have some fun and mostly just goof around. They breezed through the adventure easily with their newer skills, completely freaking out Bowser's army. Eventually, the enemies just began running away when they saw them coming. They had a huge amount of fun, and didn't even need to actually fight that much.

When they reached castle #8, they found a surprise waiting for them.

Namely, a very confused Koopa and Princess who had no idea why and how they'd suddenly gone back in time.

The last few hours of the loop were much less fun. Well, except for messing with Bowser. Mario never got tired of that.

* * *

1-9

This was it… This was the final battle that would decide the destiny of their world forever. All he had to do was jump over Bowser and grab the axe.

… Except Bowser was instead waiting with a chessboard, and there was no pit of lava or axe to be seen.

Mario groaned. Maybe Luigi had been right about staying home this time.

* * *

1-10

Well, this outcome confirmed it. Bowser being left to his own devices was bad. The lava-filled crater in place of the entire Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land was clearly proof of that.

"… Okay, so the loop ends if either of us dies, right?" Luigi asked. "And we're both out of lives?"

Mario nodded.

"… Race to the lava?"

Mario didn't even need prompting, and took off, Luigi close behind.

* * *

1-11

The repeat of their BeanBean Kingdom adventure was probably the most fun they'd had yet. For one thing, both Peach and Bowser remembered this time.

That made thwarting stage one of Cackletta's plan extremely easy. So the four decided that, this time, they'd just take a vacation until the loop ended.

Bowser, of course, just took it as an excuse to cause chaos – With permission, and the promise that nobody would get seriously hurt. He was a bit upset when he had to put BeanBean castle back on the ground and right-side up (no telling how he'd gotten it to float upside-down in the first place), but otherwise had a blast.

Peach and Luigi decided, together, that they should start doing a lot of research on various topics. Peach mostly researched magic, so she might be able to defend herself better in the future ("might" being a key word – Mario was pretty sure it wouldn't work like she expeted. Still, he was proud of her for trying), and Luigi on prettymuch everything to do with time and space, to try and see if there was anything he could learn – or guess – about the loops.

As for Mario? He basked in his own glory. Hey, he was a hero. And sometimes he just wanted to be appreciated.

… Even if some people had creepy ways of appreciating him.

* * *

-1

Of all the loops, this had to be the weirdest one yet. Luigi had managed to figure out how to jump against a wall and ceiling in their first adventure just right, and phase through a solid brick wall. Of course he pulled Mario along with him, and now they were stuck in some endless water level, with the time running down.

Why, oh why, did Luigi have all these weird ideas?


	2. Chapter 2

_Alright, here's eight more! These are a bit longer, and, well, I think most of them are a fair bit better than the first ones. I'm still learning, though... Any ideas are, as always, appreciated._

* * *

2-1

Mario cackled maniacally, as he faced down his foe, a sword made of fire in his hand.

"Uh, bro? Are you sure about this?" Luigi asked.

Mario's glare at the enormous wall of flesh in front of them said it all.

Luigi sighed, and took out the sword he'd built for himself in this strange, 2D world, out of meteorite and emerald. "Alright, let's do this."

The fight was long and hard. They trekked through the lava-filled terrain, slashing at the enemy with their new equipment from this loop as they jumped from one obsidian-constructed building to the next.

Well, admittedly, the fight wasn't that hard… They'd figured out that they kept any items in their inventory between loops, and that included extra lives. So they'd just made sure to stock up whenever they were in a loop where 1-Up mushrooms existed. And they'd long since figured out that the bosses in this world called 'Terraria' wouldn't get their health reset or leave as long as one brother remained to fight.

And once they did finish the boss off, Mario cackled even more at the loot they got from it. He'd never heard of a 'Pwnhammer' before, but it sounded absolutely awesome. He couldn't wait to see Bowser's reaction when he pulled this baby out.

Luigi mostly ignored his brother, and picked up the badge-like item that was apparently called a 'Sorceror Emblem'. Could come in handy.

* * *

2-2

Later, Mario would claim it was Luigi's idea. It wasn't, really, though. He'd been joking, but Mario was the one who thought using every single trick they knew to get through their adventures as fast as possible was a good idea.

The first time they did it, it was actually kind of fun. They blasted through their first adventure in just nineteen minutes and twenty-six seconds, beating their original time by several DAYS.

Later, though… Mario got a little crazy about it.

That's how this situation happened. Bowser had brought the princess to his castle, as usual, and Peach honored their agreement to allow the first adventure to progress as it had originally.

Mario had gotten the news about the princess being kidnapped just as Bowser got to the castle. He dashed off as quickly as possible, ready to tackle everything at full speed.

Five minutes later, Bowser was experiencing his endlessly-repeated fall into lava. He and Peach hadn't even begun their customary chess game yet, and he was disappointed. Peach had finally agreed to his bet: If he won, she would agree to marry him the next loop.

Mario didn't care. He was too busy writing down his time (four minutes, fifty-seven seconds, and 310 milliseconds).

Luigi came in a few minutes later, to find Peach (still in a cage) at a loss for words and Mario brainstorming about how to do it even faster.

"… Bro?" Luigi asked.

"Hm?"

"… I don't think it's physically possible for you to do it any faster," Luigi said. "… It's impressive, but cool off a bit. Maybe we should do something else next time this one comes around."

"… Mm-hmm."

"Let's just go home, bro."

"Yahoo!" Mario said, following Luigi out the back door.

"… Guys?" Peach asked. "… Umm, guys? Hey! You never broke me out! GUYS!"

* * *

2-3

"Hey bro, I decided to start speaking in full sentences!"

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER?!"

"No, no, Luigi, it's-"

"… YOU'RE A GHOST ARENT YOU?"

"No, I'm-"

"AAAHHHH!"

* * *

"Hey princess. How's it-"

"AHH! TOADSWORTH! BOWSER SENT A SHODDY KNOCKOFF MARIO CLONE TO KIDNAP ME!"

"I'm the paranoid one! How do you know it's a clone?"

"It talked to me."

"EVACUATE! ALL PERSONELL EVACUATE THE CASTLE!"

* * *

"I've decided to start talking. Are you going to scream at me in all caps?"

"Interesting… You look a lot like someone I know who's really famous. Prentend to be him and I'll give you half the money."

"No, Wario, it's-"

"Alright, a quarter. You just have to stop talking, and no one will know you're not him."

* * *

"Waluigi will use not-Mario to spy on Luigi! Not-Mario is much better than Waluigiscopes!"

"No, Waluigi, I'm… Oh, forget it!"

* * *

"… Please, please tell me you, at least, won't freak out or say something creepy. Well, creepier than usual."

"… You're acting weirder than you usually do in my dreams."

"Yes, I get it Bowser, I'm… Wait, what dreams?"

"Like now. Only Peach is usually here and you're waiting on us hand and foot."

"… That's it, I'm through with talking."

* * *

2-4

"Hey," Bowser said, sitting down next to his dinner guests.

"Hello," The tall, red-haired, dark-skinned man said.

"Greetings as well," The rotund, mustachioed, glasses-wearing man said.

For several minutes, none of the three said anything else. Bowser, Ganondorf, and Eggman were all quite down, and none of them felt like talking about it. The greetings were simply politeness, to imply that everything was fine. Nobody bought it.

Finally, Bowser broke the silence. "Alright, out with it. What did Link and Sonic do this time?"

"… Well, actually, the thing is…" Ganondorf started, "He didn't actually beat me this time. I was all set up to finish him, and he whistled. I laughed at him, and, BAM. Sneak attack by Zelda with a light arrow."

"So?" Bowser asked. "It's not like that's the-"

"And then it turned out Impa, the ninja-lady? She was hiding in the rafters and dropped the master sword on my head."

"… Ouch. What's your story, Ivo?"

"… The fox kid. I'd beaten Sonic, and got a little… overzealous with my gloating. I forgot that that horrid little hedgehog taught the fox everything he knows, and…"

"You underestimated him."

"Horribly. And then he pulled out a bunch of bombs from nowhere – I didn't even know he could do that – and got Sonic out of my hideout real quick. I didn't have time to save any of my research."

"Reminds me of the time I kidnapped Mario. I'll give Luigi one thing, he's definitely got the same stick-to-it attitude as his brother… Once he sets his mind to something, anyway."

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever fight them," Eggman said.

"Now, what's got you down?" Ganon asked.

Bowser sighed. "Well, I tried to pull some of the things I got from OTHER worlds on Mario. I thought, maybe, I could get the advantage. Nope, he pulls out an eight-foot sword. Made of fire."

"And what about Luigi?" Eggman asked curiously.

"Some weird pink stick and a freaking lightsaber. The stick teleported him wherever he pointed it."

"… Ooh. So he was the problem?"

"Nope. The distraction. I don't even remember everything Mario used, but I think he got the idea that all bets were off. DON'T give him that idea."

"Well, what if all bets really are-"

"DON'T, EGGY!" Bowser cried. "… just don't, alright? Not much scares me. But that was scary."

"… So why did you seem so happy?" Ganon asked.

"Oh, just half an hour ago I captured Peach again."

"You WHAT?"

"When you KNEW we were visiting?"

"The sound of screaming and misery is soothing to me." Bowser said. "What's the worst that could-"

"It's-a-me, Mario!"

* * *

2-5

Mario grinned sheepishly at the three golden ladies in front of him.

Literally, they were quite golden. Their names were Din, Nayru, and Farore, and they were the goddesses of the world he'd found himself in. And they were, of course, none too pleased with how he'd handled things.

They were taking turns listing all of their complaints.

"Firstly, you were supposed to get the sword. I mean, really! The sword! Hidden near your house in the forest! And a shield! That's the first challenge, to prove to your peers you can handle it! You do NOT threaten to smash them with a hammer!"

"Second! I don't care if you have fire powers. You're supposed to use the sticks to move the fire from the torches to burn webs, not just make your own. You skipped half the first dungeon and missed its item, are you happy?"

"Caverns are supposed to be like mazes! You don't just… You don't just jump around! You didn't even get the bombs…"

"And to say nothing of just giving Jabu-Jabu a laxative… What is wrong with you?"

"And then you completely screwed up the whole timeline by forcing yourself to not fall asleep when you took the Master Sword. How did you even DO that?"

"You skipped the entire second half of the adventure! That's not how it works."

Mario just shrugged. He did things the way he knew how. He was sure Link had done the same thing against Bowser.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Bowser came into the room with the princess's cage, and immediately noticed that she had been replaced by a large barrel with a skull (Or was it just a weird-looking face?) and crossbones on it, connected to a fuse that was quickly running down.

"What the-"

**BOOM.**

* * *

2-6

After the other three champions at the Triwizard Tournament finished with their dragons in the first task, no one was completely sure what to expect of Mario.

Absolutely no one expected him to charge in, headfirst, without his wand, and grab the Hungarian Horntail by its tail, barely missing its spikes. It was even more of a surprise when he started swinging the thing around like a hammer and threw it clear out of the arena – Knocking down the astronomy tower on the castle.

Everyone was quite impressed, but Mario still got a low score for causing property damage.

The second task went even quicker. Dumbledore's spell would only keep the champion's friends asleep while they couldn't breathe normally.

Unbeknownst to Dumbledore, Luigi could breathe underwater, and had been camping out just below the surface all night, waiting for the task to start. This was, apparently, considered "cheating", because Mario never entered the water in the first place.

When Mario just started jumping over the walls of the hedge maze in the last part of the tournament, no one was really surprised anymore. The plumber completely bypassed all of the obstacles without breaking a sweat. The judges decided even before he touched the cup that he would be receiving low scores once again.

When the portkey swept him away, they were almost relieved. Almost. When he returned with a dead man who was mysteriously alive and what appeared to be a large, crushed cauldron, once again no one knew what to think.

Even though no one had died this time, it had been agreed – no more Triwizard Tournament.

* * *

2-7

"I've decided to take over the Mushroom Kingdom the old-fashioned way!" Bowser yelled. "We're going to hold an election! Me versus you, Peach! Whoever wins, gets both the Mushroom Kingdom AND the Koopa Kingdom to rule over!"

"Really?" Peach asked. "Forever?"

"No, no! Just a few years. Then we'll do it again. I've really decided to play fair this time. I'm going to be President Koopa!"

"NO! NO! NO ONE SPEAKS OF THAT!" Luigi screamed.

"YEAH!" Mario agreed. "NO-NO!"

"I don't get the big-"

"SERIOUSLY, NO!" Luigi yelled. "… It gives me nightmares to even be reminded of that loop… The goombas… Be glad you don't remember…"

"I don't get what's so bad about-"

"SO LONG, KING BOWSER!" Mario yelled, and grabbed Bowser by the tail. He swung the giant turtle king around and threw him out of the castle.

"… Um, thank you, but you're paying for the broken window, you know," Peach said.

"Okey-dokey," Luigi said. "As long as we never speak of this again."

"I am curious, though…"

"NEVER. SPEAK. OF. THIS."

* * *

2-8

**WORLD 1-1  
BOWSER x ∞**

"Wait, what? What's going on here?" Bowser asked, looking around the barren area. "What were all those words about?"

No one answered, of course, so Bowser attempted to turn around and go back the way he came… Only to hit an invisible wall. "The heck?" He turned the other way, and began walking. Soon, he met up with a goomba under a few blocks.

"Hey! Minion! What's the big idea?"

The goomba made no reply, and simply walked into Bowser. Much to the Koopa King's shock, he shrunk down to a third his normal size.

"Grah! What is wrong with you?" Bowser yelled at the goomba, who kept walking onwards, paying him no mind.

"… Weirdo."

Bowser continued forward, coming to a low pipe. Easy enough to scale, even for as bad a jumper as Bowser. Soon, he reached another pipe, just a bit higher than the first. There was another goomba beyond it, who didn't respond to Bowser's yelling at all. Bowser just stomped the goomba, knowing it'd probably recover… And immediately ran into a pipe too high for him to jump.

So, of course, he tried to punch it. It didn't work, he just hurt his hand. Bowser wasn't one to give up, though, and kept on punching the pipe until…

**TIME UP!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Okay, this one's not really as big as the last two... And, well, it's different focus is more on exposition, and setting things up for later. 3-4, in particular, will probably have at least an entire chapter devoted to following it. I do hope people will like that idea. And, hopefully, I can get something out of it. As always, any ideas would be appreciated.  
_

* * *

3-1

Mario yawned, sitting up. He looked around him, and immediately noticed he was sitting in a flowerbed on a tiny planet. He grinned. FINALLY, he was back on this adventure! Luigi had gotten to take his place in it once (along with a second Luigi somehow showing up), but now he could explore space once more!

He jumped up, screaming his joy for the world to hear.

"Mario!" A familiar, echoing voice called from behind him. He turned around to see Rosalina, the blue-clad lady of the stars, accompanied by three star-shaped creatures, two yellow and one cream. He waved, grinning all the while.

"I see from your expression that you're happy to see me. I'd be lying if I said I was not also happy to see you. After all, you and your brother were quite a big help to me… Though, as I've now been told, that's just what you do."

"?" Mario looked at Rosalina quizzically. Wasn't this before they'd met?

"You're wondering why I remember you?" Rosalina asked, though it wasn't really a question. "To put it most simply, I'm in charge of this universe. So, to that, I am considered to have a right to know what is going on. I also insisted on being the one to explain the finer points of the situation to you."

Mario nodded.

"As you've realized, time has been resetting to earlier points quite frequently, or 'looping'. Our world is actually different in that the loops will often start at different points in your life, as opposed to almost always starting at the same point. You are the anchor-"

"Luigi," Mario added.

"No, just you. I'll get to that in a minute, his situation is… Unique. Anyway, you are the anchor. That means that the world's well-being is tied to you. You help stabilize the world, and are aware for every loop. Anyone else may or may not be aware, or 'awake', as it's referred to."

Mario nodded. He knew that already. Except…

"Luigi. Yes. Well, you two are linked – Your magical energies are intertwined. For the first fifteen or so loops, you went back by yourself, and were completely cut off from Luigi's energy. You failed to wake up as your magic wreaked havoc on your surroundings."

Mario voiced a question.

"No, I won't tell you how bad it was. It wasn't your fault, and I will not have you feeling bad about it." Rosalina gave Mario a stern look, and the weirdness of the look on her shut him up. "Thankfully, Luigi started looping quite quickly on his own, and has been awake ever since, otherwise irreparable damage to the universe might have been done. The random entry points for loops are caused by him, though I haven't been told why."

Mario nodded.

"Now, just one more thing: Loops don't necessarily start the same way you'll remember. This is most noticeable with fused loops, which-"

Mario cut her off.

"… Oh, you already know? I see… Well, then, anything else?"

Mario spun on the spot, pointing at one of the stars.

"… Luma? Oh, yes, you do have an adventure to be getting to, don't you? Very well." Rosalina motioned for the cream star to come forward.

It darted under Mario's hat, and a warmth filled him. "Yahoo!" Mario screamed. It was time to really get going. Adventures and saving people never got old.

* * *

3-2

One of the best discoveries, in Mario's opinion, was that his and Luigi's 'practice room' didn't change between loops. Everything that was there, stayed there. Of course, it wasn't really an actual room, or even a real location. Luigi had explained it once or twice, apparently it was some weird cross between a mental world and their hammerspace.

He didn't quite get it, but the room operated on a completely different timeline. Time only passed in the room when he and Luigi were there, and stopped outside while they were in there. They'd first used it when Bowser had swallowed them, mostly because they hadn't known about it before Starlow had told them. Eventually they'd figured out that they could actually make extra rooms, each one looking different.

Mario didn't really use the room that much – sometimes it was nice to sit down and read a book in here, or work on some projects. It was peaceful in here.

Well, until Luigi discovered video games. Specifically, video games about _them_. Luigi already found games fun, but didn't really get much chance to play them, since Mario usually wouldn't let him. Mario, however, had long ago forgotten why.

He remembered now, of course. Luigi didn't exactly stay quiet while playing – he was always yelling at the game, usually happily. It wouldn't be so bad if only one of them could be in here at once, but it had to be both or it wouldn't work. And they hadn't figured out how to stop sound from leaking between rooms.

… He wasn't sure what was worse, having no idea what Luigi's comments meant, or hearing them.

"HA! Take that, me! TAKE THAT FROM BOWSER! YOU'RE ON FIRE! Wait, is that a… NO FAIR! SMASH ME WITH YOUR BUTT, BOWSER! HA! THAT DID IT! What do you think now, me? Huh? You gonna cr- Oh crud a giant robot."

… Case in point.

* * *

3-3

Long ago, Luigi had decided there wasn't any point to being jealous of his brother. They had their strengths and weaknesses, but together, they were practically unstoppable. Well, not quite… An alien superweapon had managed to stop them once, but only for about half an hour or so.

… That really sounded much less absurd when he didn't think about it. He didn't really like reminders that he and his brother weren't quite… normal. Even by Mushroom Kingdom standards.

Once they started looping, though… They started working on projects. Projects neither had been able to make any headway in, because the world was always in danger. Usually there were a couple of days between threats, but sometimes there was as little as five minutes before something new happened.

And then the loops started, and… Suddenly there was no need to hurry. Even less so when Bowser started looping, and half the loops didn't even have any problems anyway. Mario and Luigi started working on things, and their work pulled them apart in a way. They were still close as ever, but it was starting to be that their projects made it harder to work as a team.

Mario's big project was training – Mostly, testing the limits of exactly what he could do with his dimensional flip technique. And, as it turns out, the better question would have been what he COULDN'T do with it. With enough practice, Mario could easily just teleport wherever he wanted to. He could slip between the seams of space, and hide there, where no one could find him. It came to a peak when he made his own pocket dimension, consisting of nothing but a few small planets and some stars to light it up.

Luigi, on the other hand, saved as much as he could from other worlds the brothers visited. He learned all he could about other worlds, in any way he could – He wanted to be prepared for anything. He kept a few artifacts – a Rod of Discord and his green Phasesaber from Terraria, a green Chaos Emerald from Sonic's world (hopefully Shadow hadn't noticed he took it before the loop ended…), and even a Pokedex (He was convinced he could get it to Tattle, with enough work).

At first, Luigi just used the Rod of Discord whenever Mario used his flipping technique. That didn't stay effective for long, though – The Rod of Discord could only take you somewhere you were looking at, which meant inter-dimensional travel was out of the question – And using it too much was painful. Seven times in a row, deadly. Luckily he had multiple lives, but death by teleportation was still extremely unpleasant.

So, Luigi looked to other worlds for ways to travel. He'd hoped he could "shadow-travel", like the son of Hades could in that weird version of New York with greek gods (no such luck, but he did manage to tick off Zues by people mistaking him for some long-forgotten son of the sky god).

The wizarding world of Hogwarts had produced slightly better results, while he'd never quite gotten the hang of apparition, he could make a portkey well enough. That wasn't really practical most of the time, though, so he continued his search.

Stealing a magikoopa's wand? Nope, turns out Mushroom World wands didn't work well for humans.

Portable pixelator? … He didn't trust the original version of that anyway. Making it smaller probably made it dangerous or something.

Ghost portals? … Actually, he didn't even know that was a thing before ending up in Amity Park. But, apparently, there was no Ghost Zone in the Mushroom World. And, admittedly, Luigi was a little relieved – He'd been rather desperate, and really hoped he wouldn't have to use the very unreliable ghost portals. And, you know, they had ghosts in there.

Eventually, he did actually just try learning the flip technique from Bestovius himself. And, as it turned out, he had absolutely no aptitude for it. Bestovius did give him a hint, though: He'd have to find some artifact that could "sync" with his magic, and he might be able to use that.

Not that that helped, so he gave up on it for awhile and just started helping Mario on his next project.

* * *

3-4

Personally, Luigi thought this idea was brilliant. He and Mario had spent the better part of the last few days working on Mario's little pocket dimension, with the Star Rod lent to them to shape the tiny world as needed.

And, finally, they were done. They'd built all sorts of structures on the little planets – One had a group of cabins, others had obstacle courses… Anything they'd need for this idea to work, really.

The finishing touch was to connect the planets to each other with a system of sling stars, with the planet with cabins acting as a sort of "hub". They just had to get them aligned just right, and then they'd be open for business.

Really, it was quite surprising how much more time they had with loops. And, with more time, Mario decided that the best way to spend it was to share their knowledge and techniques. And so, they built what was basically a summer camp for what they called "Platformer Style", as a sort of introductory for the kind of world the Mario Bros lived in.

They'd even managed to convince some friends from other worlds to act as teachers, too – Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were the first to come along, but they'd also managed to get the Donkey Kong, Wario, and Kirby on-board. Wario would be staying and managing the place permanently, since he was being payed well and wasn't looping, so it was the only way he could keep his memory between loops.

Mario had already started recruiting people for the program. He wasn't having that much luck, most people coming already had some experience. The only ones who were prettymuch completely alien to it were Link and a few Pokemon Trainers. Oh well, it would still be interesting to see how everyone measured up against each other.


End file.
